healigan13 - AP BLOGGING 2014

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Here are the expectations & inspirations for your blogs:
AP LIT CRITICAL READING JOURNALS 2014

REQUIREMENTS
Four journals each quarter, due one week before the end
of the quarter
Must be posted on your personal blog, each post no less than 300 words
**Six of the following strategies used each quarter

1. Note times when your reading changes, such as
~you notice something you have not noticed before
~patterns emerge
~there is a plot twist--and you expected it (or not)
~the purpose of the author seems to evolve from one thing to another
~you meet words or allusions you do not recognize. (don’t just look them
up. consider the purpose in including them)

2. Do you identify with the purpose, experience, values expressed in the text? Or if you don’t--what then? How are you connecting to the text?

3. When are you surprised or confused? What does not fit? If something or someone does not make sense, write about it.

4. When you have completed a text, consider the ending. What ended? Is it an appropriate ending? Predictable? Out of left field?

5. Note stylistic devices as you read--diction, syntax, tone, plot structure, figurative language, imagery etc--how is this writer using rhetoric to suit his/her purpose?

6. How do the sentences connect to the paragraphs? How do the units (chapters, verses, acts) align with the whole?

7. If there are sections which do not move the plot forward, then what is their purpose?

8. Choose a chapter. Make a judgment about it, and then defend it.

9. Choose a chapter from How to Read Literature Like a Professor and apply it to the text. Find illustrations in your story that display the rules noted in How to Read.

10. Choose an illuminating or essential quotation from the text for each reading session. Comment on the quote’s significance to the work as a whole.

HEALIGAN'S COMMENTS ON BLOGGING and ASSESSMENT
4 tiers of posting: comment, reflection, analysis, judgment
3 tiers of commenting: approval, sharing, responding to judgment.
How am I looking at your blog?
Quality of posts, from—Comment, becomes
Reflection, becomes
Analysis, becomes
Judgment/Synthesis
Quality of texts read:
Raw material for posts: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, bio
Quantity of reading-balance short and long
Variety of choice (remember the AP test!)
Quality of writing voice:
Usage, easy flow of language
Individual, unique voice identifying the author
Consciousness of self as writer: which voice will you choose?
Fit voice to purpose
My Observations
1. Sometimes you have to wait to post. Processing the work is important to strong voice.
2. Merit of the book you write about affects ability to move from comment to analysis.
3. Comment, reflection, analysis applies to your content as well as your voice.
4. Some people comment better than they post—this is good to know as you develop your style.

5. We can use conscious voice as a vehicle to attract readers and allow comment.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR STARTING YOUR BLOG
if you would like to start a Wordpress blog, you are welcome to do so. I do not have an instruction sheet on the Wordpress platform, though.
1. Create an account on __Blogger.com__with your email login. Then say “no thanks” to Google+ and create a limited Blogger profile. (to create blog without a gmail, start here:
https://accounts.google.com/SignUpWithoutGmail )

2. Follow instructions to make a blog: title it, check for title/URL availability and click through to choose a template.  

3. Choose a template. Later you can play with the color scheme, additional photos or graphics, etc.  (under Design>Advanced)

4. Look at the title block. It should include the header, and you may want to add a tag line underneath as well—as quote you like, a comment about yourself, etc.  

5. Save your blog to the Mac toolbar for your own sanity. Email yourself your password and your blog URL. Email me at __lhealey@stmarkshs.net__ your URL, so that I can follow your blog.  

6. Add at least two widgets that will be of interest to others who read your blog (other students and me). You do that on the LAYOUT tab. Click on “add widget” and peruse your choices. The instructions are self-explanatory once you get there. You could add your twitter feed, a news feed, whatever.

7. Write an “About” profile page introducing yourself to your readers and telling them what they can expect on your space. Depending on your template, you may create a profile PAGE or just a profile on SIDEBAR. They make that choice, not you. You may upload a photo from your online photo file (flickr, snapfish, shutterfly, picasa, etc) or find a FREE image online. Use Google Advanced search to find online photos that are free to use. You may also add a photo later from your own camera at home.

8. Create a blogroll: You should follow everyone else in the class. You can do that by adding them on the "join this site" button. It is on every blog design template, so it is somewhere on your blog already--often on the sidebar. (I will compile a master list of all of our blogs later, in case you miss anyone’s blog.) Then visit the“add widget” list again—they have a widget just for blogs. Easy to use. Choose at least three other blogs that you would like to read and subscribe to them. Possible areas of interest:

*News, politics, culture blogs—drudge report, intelligent life, slate, daily kos, michelle malkin, brainpicker, explore, etc, etc
*Techie things--gadgetwise, techcrunch, etc.
*Art--deviant art, the fox is black, tumblr, artchipel, etc
*World events & lit: words without borders, BBC. Reuters, the Guardian (culture only)
*Humor: xkcd, the onion, the oatmeal, Hark! A Vagrant, etc
*Book sites, sports, fashion or music sites & blogs, etc  
(goodreads.com, shelfari, bookvibe, etc)

There are MANY ways to subscribe to blogs—Note some the links below if you need ideas, but the sites below are not required. I will go over some of your best choices in class. Feel free to inform your friends of your favorite ways to do this. I am not an expert.

8. Embed your blogroll into your sidebar, or create an individual blogroll page.

 And you are ready to roll blog.

BLOGS YOU MIGHT LIKE for your sidebar:
__The Awl__
__Grantland__
__GREAT BOOKS with DEJA VU__
__BRAIN PICKINGS__
__Snarkmarket__
__Zen Habits__
__Diigo list of "10 of the best" great inspiration list__
__http://kottke.org/__
__MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE__

AP BLOGGING 2014

__http://www.npr.org/music/blogs/__

stories for those who hate romance novels: FLAVORWIRE

__hype machine: music__

http://www.npr.org/music/blogs/

hype machine: music